What is more important: The violent video game player's biased
view of what counts as aggressive may explain why playing violent
video games increases aggression. Most individuals restrain themselves
from yielding violent impulses. However, when an impulse is perceived
as relatively harmless, the impulse is less likely to be stifled. For instance,
a blow in a real-life argument appears to be innocuous compared
to killing (during video game play) and thus one does not inhibit the impulse
to perform the blow. Taken together, the comparison approach
suggests that performing intense violent acts during video game play
leads to a bias in the perception of the aggressiveness of one's subsequent
behavior. This biased perception in turn should increase the likelihood
of aggressive behavior